


still i watch the sky

by kimaracretak



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Praise Kink, Smut as Character Work, Throne Sex, a couple brief references to the briarwoods being awful, mostly just fluffy sex tho, some brief talk of trees that probably want to eat you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-11-30 00:13:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11451990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimaracretak/pseuds/kimaracretak
Summary: (chance is all you need / whatever you see / you belong too): It is nice, she thinks, to live for something sharp and light as air, for something that settles over her skin with a firm promise of flight. New, like everything else Vex has brought to Whitestone, and sometimes Cassandra marvels that the unfamiliar joy has not burned her to dust. But Vex's light is too warm for that.Or; Cassandra rewards her Huntmistress for a job well done





	still i watch the sky

**Author's Note:**

> title from astarte, 'naked hands', summary quote from collide, 'inside'
> 
> for the kinkmeme prompt '[Vex/Cassandra, anything](http://criticalkink.dreamwidth.org/700.html?thread=306364#cmt306364)'

Cassandra lives for the days Vex comes back from a hunt. They're not often — Vex does not like hunting more than her duties demand — but Cassandra learns to recognise them quickly all the same.

It is nice, she thinks, to live for something sharp and light as air, for something that settles over her skin with a firm promise of flight. New, like everything else Vex has brought to Whitestone, and sometimes Cassandra marvels that the unfamiliar joy has not burned her to dust. But Vex's light is too warm for that.

Dawn comes more easily on the days Vex returns, pushes at the city-forest border like a living thing. Cassandra dresses in a rush though she knows Vex likely won't be back until the afternoon, fingers trembling with excitement as she does up the buttons of her dress. Blue and white today, like the sky outside, like Vex's eyes and her armour, and she plucks absently at the embroidery all through the morning council meetings while Keeper Yennen glares at her.

He knows, Cassandra thinks, or at least he must have a good guess as to why she can't sit _still_  — her relationship with Vex isn't exactly a secret, and though no one outside of Vox Machina save Allura and Kima seem to look favourably on it, they're all too pleased she's still alive to say anything about it.

Not, of course, that that has stopped Vex from coming up with some _thoroughly_  improper places where they can be alone long enough for her to slip under Cassandra's skirts and draw as many delightfully unladylike noises from her as possible. She shivers at the memory, presses her thighs together and tries in vain to focus on the maps in front of her. _Soon_ , she promises herself. _Soon._

When they finally break for lunch, Cassandra is disappointed to find Trish waiting for her in the hallway instead of Vex. Her disappointment is short-lived, however, as Trish winks and says, "Lady Vex'ahlia is waiting for you in the throne room."

" _Is_ she, now," Cassandra says, and it's not a question, not really. "You know where I'll be for the next few hours, then. Don't find me unless there's more dragons."

Trish sighs, but Cassandra knows her guard well enough now to detect the hint of fondness behind the exasperation as she rushes off to find Vex.

The doors to the throne room are locked, with one of Vex's green and gold vines strung across the doorknobs. Cassandra rests her hand on the door, feels the slight vibration as the lock's tumblers click, and tries not to disturb the vines as she slips inside. 

"Hello, darling," Vex says, and the sheer _promise_  in her voice makes Cassandra's knees a little weak. She's sprawled casually across the throne, right leg slung over the carved wooden arm and left foot planted on the floor, leaving a perfectly Cassandra-sized space between her legs.

"Hello yourself, my lady," Cassandra smiles, and crosses the room with hurried steps to kneel at her feet. "I missed you," she sighs, resting her head on Vex's thigh as Vex's fingers comb softly through her hair.

"I know you did, darling," Vex says fondly. "But I brought you ever so many presents."

Cassandra presses a kiss to her inner thigh, still smiling against the leather. "You brought yourself most of all, Vex. Such a loyal huntmistress deserves a reward, hmm?"

Vex hums agreement, slides down just a little on the throne as her hand toys with the fastenings of her breeches. "First a kiss?"

"Gladly." She gets up just long enough to re-settle herself in Vex's lap, cups her cheeks and takes a moment to just rest their foreheads together and breathe in the faint scent of the forest still clinging to Vex. "I missed you," Cassandra says again, before leaning in to capture Vex's lips in a surprisingly gentle kiss.

Vex makes a small, soft noise of contentment and wraps her arms around Cassandra's waist, holding her even closer. Cassandra can _feel_ the tension of anticipation draining from her, all melting away in the soft slide of Vex's tongue against her own.

 _Soft_ , _yes_ , she thinks, eyes drifting shut. Here, in their home, they could both be soft, and the warmth that spreads through her chest at the thought has her pressing her hips down into Vex's lap.

Vex is looking at her curiously when they part, one hand sliding up to pull at the pins in Cassandra's hair. "Are you alright, darling?" she asks. "I know we play a lot, especially here, but if you just want..."

Unlike most of Whitestone, Vex never looks at her like she's afraid Cassandra might break, but her concern is clear all the same. Vex too knows what it is to be wholly lost inside one's own head, and Cassandra can see the look in her eyes start to fade into something less eager, more protective. Still it sends a surge of wanting up into her heart, and Cassandra hurries to grasp Vex's chin again, kiss away her worry.

"No," she says breathlessly when they part. "I have waited far too long for you to return to me, Lady Vex'ahlia, and you are not leaving until I have had my way with you."

"As my lady wishes." Vex smiles, pupils blown wide and dark. "And then I will show you how very much I missed you."

Cassandra palms Vex's breasts through the thin fabric of her blouse, feeling her nipples harden in response even through her breastband. " _Such_ a loyal huntmistress," she murmurs, kissing her way down Vex's neck. "Do you dream of me, in the forest? Touch yourself when you miss me too much, try to keep quiet for the hunting party even when you're sure they know exactly who you're thinking of?"

The words are familiar, part of a ritual of whispers and touches they've perfected over the year since Vex settled in Whitestone, but Vex loses her response in a moan as Cassandra slips her hands under her shirt and makes quick work of her breastband. "But of course, darling," she finally manages. "It's not the — _oh_ ," she breaks off with a gasp and Cassandra bends and closes her teeth gently around a nipple, "Gods, Cass — my lady, _please_ —"

Cassandra laughs, shifts to grind her core against the hard muscles of Vex's thigh. "You'd think you were gone a month, not four days."

"It's different in the forest," Vex says, grinning as she presses her thigh harder into Cassandra and makes her moan. She doesn't say, _I wish you could see it_ , but Cassandra half-hears the words anyway. She doesn't know what claim the forest has on Vex — hasn't been to the forest herself since Delilah died — but it still makes her suppress a shiver.

Vex feels it, though. "Oh darling, it's alright, I promise," she says, and tips Cassandra's head back up for another deep kiss. Cassandra chases her mouth when she breaks away, nips possessively at Vex's lips. "I think it knows you're lady of Whitestone now. It's happier."

"Well, _I'm_ happier when you're _here_ ," Cassandra says firmly, rubbing her hands up and down Vex's arms and smiling as Vex's mouth drops open in silence this time. "Here and not distracting me."

"Mm," Vex hums as Cassandra returns her attention to her breasts. "Well, you make a persuasive argument."

"You make it easy for me," Cassandra smiles against Vex's skin, dips her hand under Vex's waistband to stroke through soft curls and feel her thighs tremble. "So strong ... so skilled ..." She slips her hand lower, is unsurprised to find her already wet. "So beautiful under my hands you make me believe in luck again." 

"Cass, my lady, Cass, _Cass_  —" Vex slides further down the throne, swings her leg back over its arm to give Cassandra more room to work as her fingers slide inside Vex easily.

Cassandra drops her forehead to Vex's shoulder, overwhelmed by the desire in her eyes. "I'm here, my lady," she murmurs. "And you're here too, so clever, finally _home_."

Vex moans, hips bucking up sharply enough that Cassandra fears for a split second she'll fall. "Sorry," Vex gasps, and her arms tighten around Cassandra's waist, where they're almost hopelessly tangled in her dress. "I'm here, Cass, I'm —"

As if Cassandra could forget, with Vex's cunt clenching tight and hot around her fingers. "I know," she says, "I know, Vex, you're so —" _good_ , it's on the tip of her tongue, but for all the words she's stolen back from Delilah and given to Vex, this one she _can't_.

But she doesn't have to. Even here where she is safest and yet always so close to _not_  being safe, Vex never asks for more than she's willing to give, and they are _safe_  — Vex buries her face in Cassandra's loose hair —

 _whole_  — there's no sound now, no words needed when there's just the slick press of Cassandra's fingers deeper and deeper in —

 _home_  — Cassandra breathes deep, taking in the smell of the forest and sex and _Vex_ , and she wants to taste her so badly she aches with it —

 _together —_  Vex comes with a half-sob when Cassandra's palm presses on her clit, and Cassandra presses kisses to her shoulder as she works her trembling through the aftershocks.

"Have I pleased you, my lady?" Vex asks, when they both have their breath back, and Cassandra can meet Vex's eyes without worrying she'll be swept away by the strength of her desire.

" _So_  well," Cassandra reassures her, words slightly muffled as she gives in to the desire to lick her fingers clean of Vex's slick and come. Watching the way Vex's eyes widen and her throat bobs as she swallows hard at the sight sends another pulse of heat straight to her core. "But there's one more thing you can do for me, Lady Vex'ahlia."

 _One more way to prove you're here, really here, not going anywhere,_  she would say, if it wouldn't sound silly. If Vex didn't already know exactly what she had in mind, kissing Cassandra one more time and shuddering as she tastes herself on Cassandra's tongue.

"Trade places with me," she says, eyes glimmering with hunger. "I want to see my lady on her throne for this."

Cassandra groans, eyes fluttering shut at the thought as she tries to disentangle herself from Vex's lap. Dimly, she thinks that she's definitely making none of the afternoon council meetings, but as she gets up and takes in the sight of Vex, thoroughly fucked and thoroughly _Cassandra's_ , sprawled across a throne she had once thought out of her and her family's hands forever, there is truly nowhere else she'd rather be.


End file.
